A Faint Memory
by Haley Wilson
Summary: This is a series of one-shots with Nico as the main character. If you have not read all the books, then I do not suggest reading this as it has a hint of a spoiler in it from the Blood of Olympus. I am open to ideas of what you want me to write next.
1. The Lotus Hotel

**Disclaimer: My name is not Rick Riordan. I do not own any Percy Jackson characters.**

 **Thank you to Anonymous and Geekly Chic Chick for reviewing! I really appreciate it!**

 **If any of you have a favorite Percy Jackson or Heroes of Olympus characters just review who you want me to do next.**

 **Warning: There will be a hit of a spoiler in here from Blood of Olympus.**

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The boy glanced at the girl siting next to him. From the shape of their face, to the fierce look of determination, they nearly looked identical. But the boy, whose name was Nico di Angelo, was obviously years younger, as his forehead was not marked by the lines of stress like his sister's, Bianca di Angelo. After a month in the hotel, those lines were starting to fade, to Nico's relief. A few months earlier, he could tell she was stressed. It was difficult raising a baby brother alone. Nico could only remember flashes of memories from his life, but he could tell that they had a rough childhood.

He returned back to his game of defeating holographic zombies, and found out, much to his dismay, that his avatar had died. Feeling annoyed at having lost again, Nico was about to restart the game when he felt a tap on his shoulders. He turned around, expecting Bianca to be there telling him to stop playing and to get some lunch, but instead he saw a boy around Bianca's age standing before him. He had sea-green eyes and wind swept hair that Nico couldn't decide weather it was raven of dark brown like his. He couldn't help but stare and get lost in his beautiful eyes and admit he was quite handsome. Nico blushed at the thought.

The mysterious boy gave off an aura of confidence, but was looking quite stricken about something. Nico looked at Bianca to see if she was paying attention to him, and, satisfied that she was preoccupied with her archery game, turned to face the boy.

He glanced around distractedly and asked Nico, "What year is it?"

The boy, Nico noticed was fingering his jean pocket and pulled out a pen. He made a move as if was going to uncap it, but then seemed to have decided something and slid it back in. Nico was rather distracted by the smell of the ocean coming from the boy, and barely processed the words he had said.

The green eyes met his and like a flustered idiot, Nico stared back and said, "What?"

Green eyes looked around again; probably searching for someone. "You know. What year is it?"

Nico thought for a moment and was rather surprised when only a fuzzy memory of looking at a calendar came into mind. It was strange for Nico had never seen a calendar in the hotel, but that would be why the boy was asking.

Suddenly relieved, Nico responded in a way that he hoped was casual. "1937. Why do you ask?" The boy looked as if Nico had just confirmed a horrible truth and hurriedly glided away.

Nico glanced back at his sister once more, and snuck after the boy, keeping close to the shadows so he wouldn't be caught. Nico had found that he had a weird ability that allowed him to easily slip through the shadows without being detected. It had come in handy when Bianca was being a bit overbearing.

He soon found him talking to a blonde haired girl playing the 3-D build your own city. Nico supposed the girl was his girlfriend and felt a pang of jealousy at the thought. The boy was trying to get her attention, but she wasn't listening to him. Nico crept closer to the pair and could just make out some of the words they were saying over the bungee-jumpers. Nico shuffled closer to hear what they were saying, but he only managed to dimly her the name Annabeth.

"…Need…leave…" The boy said.

Nico was confused. The hotel had everything to offer. Evidently the girl, Annabeth, had the same thought as she replied, "Leave? What… you talking about? … The towers-"

The boy cut her off. "… Place is a trap." He grabbed her shoulders and shook her.

"What?" She snapped, annoyed. Of course, Nico thought, I would be annoyed too if someone shook me.

"Listen… Underworld… quest!"

Where they speaking about a new game Nico had missed? He had only heard these kind of words in a new card game he had found. **(1)**

"Oh, come on, Percy… few more minutes."

So his name was Percy, Nico thought. He rather liked the name Percy and thought it suited the boy well.

"Annabeth… people… 1977… aged… check in, you stay forever."

Nico was now certain they were speaking in code because only his sister would talk about the future of 1977. Almost as if summoned by him, Bianca stood, her arms folded and a scowl on her face.

"Nico," she scolded, "Why did you walk away without telling me first? If you were going to get lunch you could have at least told me."

Nico looked around her, hoping to see the green eyed boy, Percy, and the girl, Annabeth, but instead saw the half-finished holographic city with amazing architect. He wanted the boy he briefly spoke with to be his secret. He always told his sister everything, but this would be the first thing he withheld.

Going along with her idea that he just wanted lunch, Nico sighed and turned to his sister. "Why don't we go now?"

Bianca gave him a warm smile and headed off toward the food court. He glanced behind him, but the pair were no where in sight. Figuring he would see Percy later, he caught up with Bianca to get food.

The next few weeks in the hotel, Nico franticly searched the hotel for a sign of Percy. He had an overwhelming desire to find him and talk with him. Every time Nico saw a boy with black hair, he would go up to them and look at their eyes. Every time he hoped to find the welcoming sea-green eyes and lopsided smile, but every time he was disappointed.

Every so often Nico had a dream about a hero who battled monsters with Nico, and every time the hero had raven hair and green eyes. After a year of the dreams, the started becoming blurrier and blurrier, until the green eyed hero became just _a faint memory._

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 **(1) The card game is Mythomagic just to be clear. I imagine Nico found out about it in the hotel.**

 **I hope you guys like my first fanfiction! I was planning on making this a one-shot, but if you want me to add more character scenes, like I said above, just tell me. Thank you for reviewing!**

 **People seem highly interested in _A Faint Memory,_ so I was considering putting my other story, _The Doors,_ on hold for a while so I can focus on this. If this seems like a good idea, I will completely put all my effort into _A Faint Memory_ and abandon _The Doors._**

 **~ Haley Wilson**


	2. A Strange Boy

**Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Percy Jackson or the Heroes of Olympus. If I did, I would be writing another book, not fanfiction about a book. *sigh***

 **In this one-shot I imagine Nico and Leo being roughly around the same age. I don't know what the age difference is in canon so I made it this way.**

 **This happens after The Battle of the Labyrinth, but before The Last Olympian.**

 **Onward my fellow demigods!**

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It was a rainy day, so most people were inside their homes, while the children were at school and the people running the stores. Only a few people were still out, but they made sure to stay clear of one particular person on the sidewalk who seemed more melancholy than the rain itself. The boy did not mind a bit, for he was used to being ignored by people. In fact, he hadn't spoke to anyone alive in two weeks (not that he had been keeping track, thank you very much). The boy's name was Nico di Angelo.

Nico stayed close to the shadows from the walls of the shops, blandly ignoring the looks he was getting from the commuters. As he turned another corner, a graveyard loomed into view. Many people preferred not to stray to close because there were rumors of a 'wailing ghost that haunted the grounds'.

Cursing his father for making him take time off from training with the spirits in the Elysium, Nico paused next to a hardware shop and, sensing a wandering spirit, opened the door and silently slipped inside.

Bumping into many shovels and staying far away from the plants, Nico located a boy around the same age as him, maybe a year or two older. He appeared to be browsing through the tool belts while talking to someone how must have been his mother out of the corner of his mouth.

The boy was small and scrawny, not unlike Nico himself. He had a beaver's nest of brown hair atop his head and Nico couldn't help but compare him to a mini Latino santa elf. He and the woman standing beside him, who Nico was now _certain_ was his mother, were holding a conversation in low tones. It was an unusual conversation because the boy would say something and the mother would respond, but the boy would continue talking as if he hadn't heard her. The woman had a sad smile on her face, and with a jolt, Nico realized why. The boys mother was a wayward spirit.

Nico felt empathy bubble up inside him. It wasn't so long ago that Nico lost his sister. He could't remember his mom, so Bianca became his.

Nico let a soft sigh come from his chest as he saw the mom raise her hand and try to put it on her son's shoulder. The spirit's hand wen't though, but the mom was still whispering words of comfort to the boy that she knew he couldn't hear. She turned away from the boy to look at Nico. She nodded slightly and a few tears escaped her eyes. Nico could almost hear her saw _I'm ready_ even though he had no idea what she sounded like.

Nico rose one finger and pointed it at the woman and chanted in Greek, " _Αυτό αναχώρησε ψυχή που περιπλανιέται τη γη των ζωντανών πρέπει να επιστρέψουν στη γη των πνευμάτων." (_ This departed soul that wanders the land of the living shall return to the land of the spirits.)

The woman faded away leaving only leaving a gust of wind. The boy shivered and slowly turned around from the tool belts he was looking at to stare at Nico. It must have been a strange sight to see an Italian 11-year-old, wearing all black, starring at a Latino 11 or 12-year-old who looked like he was living in the sewage, but to both boys, it was close to normal. The Latino boy seemed very nervous to Nico, but then he realized it was because he had ADHD like him.

The silence was increasingly becoming awkward until the boy's face split into a wide smile and introduced himself. "Hey. Are you looking at tool belts too? 'M names Leo." He stuck out his hand and Nico could see the oil and grease on them. Leo glanced down at his hands to see what Nico was looking at"Oh, yah. Sorry 'bout that. Just got off my shift." He took out a bandana, wiped off most of the oil, and stuck his hand back out.

"Nico." He took the hand and shook it. It was a weird experience for both of them with Nico's cold hands and Leo's warm ones. After a moment, they both withdrew their hands. After a couple more seconds of silence Nico asked, "So you work here?"

"Mm hm." Leo agreed. "Did you see the solar-powered automaton at the front?"

Nico shook his head. "Er- no. I haven't."

Leo looked a little put out at that statement. "Oh. Well, I made it."

They stood just comparing how similar and different they were from each other. Leo opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a man yelling. "Runt, your break is over! Start your shift!"

Leo turned in the direction of the yelling and replied, "Coming!" He turned back to Nico. "That's my boss. Run into you again, yah?"

"Sure," Nico shrugged.

Leo's eyes lit up and he ran to a door that was probably the entrance to the office. He turned to face Nico, grinned, pulled open the door, and slipped inside.

o0o

On the Argo II-

"So, _di Angelo._ Who exactly are you? Have we met before?" Leo sighed and shook his head. "Listen, I'm sorry if you don't know what I'm talking about, but Hera stole my memories, and I don't remember much of the past. So, if we have met. . . "

Nico warily looked at Leo. He couldn't remember if he had met him before. The events of Tartarus were still fresh in his mind. "Look, Valdez, I can't remember if we've met or not so how about this: Hello, my name is Nico di Angelo."

Leo grinned and took his outstretched hand. "'M name's Leo Valdez. Did you see the dragon up front of the Argo II? 'Cause I built it."

"No, I didn't." Nico replied.

Something was tugging at the back of his mind, a strange sort of deja vu. Nico ignored it because he was fairly certain that his encounter with a boy years ago had no relevance to the conversation he was having with the person he had just met. After all, it was only a memory. A faint memory.

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 **If any of you have any requests on what scene I do next, feel free to pm me or review.**

 **I have a few ideas for one-shots so tell me which one is the best:**

 **1\. Nico meets Bianca's reincarnation**

 **2\. Nico and Reyna after the Giant War**

 **3\. Nico, Jason, and Percy have a bro night out**

 **4\. He meets Octavin after the Giant War and has to explain what happened**

 **5\. Nico visits Bob while he's working**

 **Thanks for reading!**

 **~ Haley Wilson**


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